McCabe sparkles as Prospect shoots down Chatham-Glenwood
Megan McCabe was the easy choice for player of the match Saturday afternoon.
The sophomore from Prospect ensured that her club would gain passage into a shootout with Class 2A power Chatham Glenwood with several key stops in regulation.
Then, in the shootout, she made 2 courageous saves to help the Knights (8-3-1) defeat the Titans to win the title match of their own tournament.
McCabe turned away the opening spot-kick from sophomore Abby Juhlin and another in the fourth round against Lindsey Koch. The Knights quartet of Lauren MacNab, Jessie Petrovski, Andrea Wehrle and Kelli Iovino were perfect to outscore the 2009 Class 2A state runners-up 4-2 in the shootout.
Earlier in the day, the Knights defeated Wauconda 7-0 and the Titans routed Rauner College Prep of Chicago to set up the title match of undefeated and unscored-upon teams.
"I really like (it) when we get into shootouts," McCabe said just moments after lifting the championship trophy, much to the delight of her teammates. "It's all about guessing correctly, and in that first round I saw Juhlin look the opposite way, and so I was just in the right place for her shot."
That this match arrived where it did was a bit of a surprise, given the terrific start by the visitors. They produced a flurry of chances against McCabe and her backline of Lexi Glennon, Kelly Ziegenfuss and Caroline Aubry.
Ziegenfuss, a sophomore, earned plenty of praise from Knights coach Tom Froats for her 80-minute battle with the Titans standout striker Ali Traina.
"We had trouble with our possession all throughout the match, and (Glenwood) certainly had the run of the play for most of the match, but we found out that our girls in the back can really defend, with Kelly having just a tremendous day against their best player," said Froats.
McCabe came to the rescue on consecutive long-range efforts at the half-hour mark, first elevating as high as she could to persuade an attempt from Koch out of the back of the net and moments later doing the same on a Dani Torry shot.
The Knights caught a bit of a break in the 63rd minute when Juhlin appeared to strike the first goal of the match. Instead, her blast only rattled the bar and bounded away forward, instead of over the line.
The hosts nearly pulled ahead when they the Titans on the counter, with Susie Lello getting behind the last defender only to have keeper Cara Moody charge off her line to win the 50-50 challenge.
Once the match went into shootout, it was all Prospect, and McCabe.
"We might have gotten lucky on that shot off the bar, but with Megan, we all have so much confidence in her, and today it showed," said Froats.
The Knights had a far easier time in their morning match with Wauconda (5-6-0), erupting for 4- first half goals, including 2 by Lello, who recorded a hat-trick.
"We're beginning to come around after a really poor start to our season," said Prospect's senior captain Glennon, who scored the Knights' fifth goal just after intermission with the help of Petrovski. Maureen O'Keefe also scored for the Knights, and Petrovski had 2.
"That's a very good team that we played today," said Wauconda coach Terry Stevig. "We were defending so much today that when we were able to get the ball up top to our two front-runners, Hannah Voyta and Tammy Ellis, it was basically 2 on 4, and against a strong defense like Prospect that's not going to allow us to create any scoring chances."
Bulldogs keeper Cara Leoni did her best as the sophomore was peppered with several strikes on frame. Her backline mates - Shannon Gilbert, Emily Baird and Lauren Guzman - rarely gave in, despite the constant pressure they faced.
"You have to give (Wauconda) a lot of credit for how hard they played, especially when you find out how hard they've been hit with injuries this season, and how short their bench was this weekend," Froats said.
Fremd 1, Benet 0: Elise Kotsakis scored off a Rebecca Freeman assist for Fremd (9-1-1) in the Naperville North tourney. Allison Norenberg had 1 save for the win in goal.